The Crystal Keepers, An Overseers Novel



  The Crystal Keepers

  An Overseers Novel

  Mary Coffin

  Copyright 2013 Mary Coffin

  Electronic Edition

  ISBN 978-0-9858453-2-2

  First edition 2013

  Cover Design Copyright 2013

  by https://DigitalDonna.com

  Electronic Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  ONE

  _______________

  Loki

  In the forest

  What was that?!?

  Something had grabbed Loki’s attention and yanked her out of her sleep. She lay in bed, with her eyes still closed, feeling the cool morning air on her face.

  They be stirring, miss. They be hungry.

  Was it the ‘tweenlings that woke her? There was an edge to their message. They swirled around, flying in and out of the open window, gray formless shadows that left impressions in her mind like brush strokes on a canvas. Loki didn’t see them with her physical eyes or hear them with her physical ears; she saw and heard them with inner senses. Some would call it a sixth sense but it was more like she had seven or eight.

  The ‘tweenlings seemed otherworldly but they talked of the world as though they were physically a part of it. She had communicated with them since she was a young child but was never quite sure what they were. Over the years, she came to think of them as entities that spoke to her about the state of all life and energy, as if they were the voice of plants, animals and even people, in some instances. She wasn’t sure whether they were of this world or the next. It seemed to her that they were between the two, so she nicknamed them ‘tweenlings.

  They be getting’ restless, they be!

  Their energy was growing more agitated, like an animal caught in a trap, knowing a predator is lurking nearby. It took all of Loki’s will power to lay still and listen to their message without becoming tense herself. She wondered what was making them nervous.

  Suddenly, with her eyes still closed, she felt them rush through the window and brush past her face. Their energy felt frenzied and intense, as if they were running from something. Then, Loki’s innards started getting hot and pressure was building inside, as if something was moving into her body and trying to force her out of it. This was not the ‘tweenlings! Her eyes shot open and she bolted out of bed, looking around as she did so.

  Outside, the forest nestled under a blanket of fog, unwilling to let the early morning’s sun stir it to life but enough light filtered through to reveal tall, slender shapes outside the window. Then her eyes caught sight of something else. Something is out there.

  She leaned closer to the window and peered through the opening. As if a shadow could appear in the dim fog-covered forest, there was a low cloud directly outside the window. It was darker than the mist around it and was visibly condensing, taking on form. She sensed fear in the ‘tweenlings hushed warning.

  Lookout, miss! The darkness. The darkness be there.

  Normally the ‘tweenlings flowed through things like ghosts floating through the ethers, having no effect on the physical world but, as the shadow darkened and began to change, it was as if the ‘tweenlings’ form took on physical mass and they nearly knocked over the lantern beside Loki’s bed. She grabbed it just before it toppled off of the bedside table onto the hard wood floor.

  Their excited murmurs sounded like frightened children, all whispering at the same time. They nervously scurried about the room. The book that she had been reading sat on her desk and the ‘tweenlings blew past with such force that the hardbound cover flew open and the pages rattled, as if a gust of wind had just kicked up.

  Loki feared the commotion would wake her father. He told her to quit leaving the window open at night. The cold morning air made him grumpy. Truth be told, there wasn’t much that didn’t anger him these days and, at times, her very presence set him off. Loki knew her father was deeply troubled and his behavior had been getting worse.

  Loki was just about to reach for the window and close it when the ‘tweenlings movements nearly yanked a picture off the wall and the bottom of the frame swung outward. She rushed to it to catch it before it thumped harshly against the wall but she was too late; it struck with a loud bang. The ‘tweenlings whirled so close that her nightshirt bunched tightly around her body. She waved her arms to shoo them back out the window but they were too fast for her to sense their location. She grabbed a shirt from the back of the chair and waved it through the air to corral them to the window but how does one herd unseen vortices of energy?

  “Loki!!!” Her father’s booming voice echoed in her head and her bedroom door swung open. His bloodshot eyes immediately focused on the open window and he stepped unsteadily toward her.

  He’s drunk! Can someone wake up as drunk in the morning as when they went to bed the night before?

  Loki backed up calmly until she reached the wall beside her bed. She placed her hand on the window to pull it closed but for a brief moment she couldn’t move. Her body felt heavy, like an invisible weight was pressing down on it. She glanced out the window and the dark cloud was so dense that it was black and took on the form of a cat’s head. The tips of its ears were slightly rounded and its rugged jaw and squared muzzle gave it a tough, wild appearance. It was a panther. Its amber eyes opened and looked straight at Loki. Her skin crawled and a prickly sensation crept down the back of her neck. The wooden window frame was blackening under squelching heat that caused Loki to pull her hand back.

  As soon as she did, the cat’s black, ethereal form charged through the window and straight for her father. He opened his mouth to scold Loki further.

  “I told you…”

  Before he could finish, the dark cloud rushed through his eyes and into his body. His face registered surprise at first, as his words caught in his throat and he swallowed. Then his posture stiffened and he looked at Loki with dark eyes. He stepped slowly toward her, with steady movements.

  His voice was strong. “I will no longer wait for your answer. You will study the dark arts. You will commit to the Brethren of Darkness and you have no choice in the matter.”

  He stepped near the bedside table and discreetly picked up the lamp, holding it behind his back, as he continued approaching Loki.

  “You think you can continue to defy me?!? I’ll teach you what defiance brings!!”

  He raised his arm with the lamp over his head and was about to throw it at Loki when someone behind him grabbed it from his grasp.

  “Dex!”

  He spun around to face Loki’s mother, Gwynn. She pushed him hard in the chest and, as he stumbled backward onto Loki’s bed, the black misty panther exited his body and flew out the window.

  Loki breathed a sigh of relief. “Mom, did you see…”

  Her mother glanced at her and shook her head, letting Loki know not to speak. “This would be a good time for you to go for a ride.”

  Loki didn’t need convincing. She grabbed her shirt, pants and riding boots and rushed out of the house. She leaned back against the front door, waiting for her heart beat to slow, and heard her father loudly proclaim, “She will follow the same path as Elwyn!”

  TWO

  _______________